The 5 stages of making a bad audio purchase


This is tongue in cheek people, so let’s keep the replies light shall we?
The 5 Stages of Making a Bad Audio Purchase:

1. Denial: "My system, which before was of course totally awesome, is now totally awesomer! The sound stage isn’t just 3 dimensional any more, it is 4 dimensional. I can feel fingers sliding across guitar strings, drums are like my head is against the snare, and the bass goes 10hz lower ...."

2. Anger: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T BELIEVE MY SYSTEM WENT FROM AWESOME TO AWESOMER!!!. You obviously have a crap system, your ears are crap, you are just jealous."

3. Bargaining: "Hey, this gadget will make your already awesome system totally awesomer! 60% of MFR list is a great deal for it! That’s 40% off and you don’t even have to pay tax. I am only selling it because I am upgrading to the even awesomer version 2. My loss is your gain."

4. Depression: "I can’t believe I spent $5,000 on this thing ....."

5. Acceptance: "Sure, 75% off list is fair."
atdavid
"Either way.... there’s a 99.9% chance one of us is wrong."
I am rooting for geoffkait. Come on, you can make it to 100. You have done it before.
I saw the photos of the Von Schweikert exhibit on-line.  That room was humongous.  Doesn't look like the other rooms they've shown in or the one I heard.  However, I brought my own LPs and CDs to hear the Ultra 11 set-up which I used throughout the local show of the Ultra 11s.   This included the Urania LP Paul Price Breaking the Sound Barrier on LP, Mercury CD Ramsey Lewis Down to Earth.  Awesome recreation of the studio/recording venue and immensely realistic sound with great pacing.   There was applause after the LP played.  The big Tidal speakers sounded great only on jazz, why is that?  Forget the Magicos, Vivids and Wilsons, the music was not as focused or realistic (and where was the pacing on the Magicos)?   Actually the Volti speakers got the pacing right as well as the realism, not the tonality though.  
The main rule you need to adhere to is that they are your ears-satisfy them and only them. Example I just listened to a $65,000 pair of properly set up speakers and I much preferred the $16,000 pair. Ita all about your ear.